Lpc2000

This is the sort of feedback that is useful.  I think we've been very
good in providing free licenses and (in some cases) hardware to many
users for their use--but we don't shout about it.  I may actually put a
page up on the website with the more interesting projects we have
supported, but we have sent more keys to "intense hobbyists" that have
the front to contact us directly.  I'm getting soft... :-)

I *know* that I'd like to do something for hobbyists, but I'm really
unsure as to what the impression would be.  The current company policy
is to offer what *I* would like to see from a company if I used its
tools.  That is, we fix bugs free of charge because we made the mistake,
and we offer e-mail support that isn't limited because if users have
problems then it's a documentation issue or should be covered by a FAQ.

In the three years that we've been selling CrossWorks for MSP430, our
original users have never needed to pay for an upgrade.  However, I can
say now, that when v2 ships, there *will* be a small cost associated
with it because it's a major upgrade in function.

Sorry, I'm rambling.

--
Paul Curtis, Rowley Associates Ltd  http://www.rowley.co.uk
CrossWorks for MSP430, ARM, AVR and now MAXQ processors

> -----Original Message-----
> From: compuguru64 [mailto:karim@...] 
> Sent: 25 November 2005 00:24
> To: lpc2000@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [lpc2000] Re: Problems with olimex (wiggler) jtag 
> and olimex lpc2129 proto board
> 
> I can only speak for myself.  I'm a professional programmer of 
> vertical business applications.  I also consider myself a perpetual 
> student.  My hobby is robotics and I take it seriously.  I consider 
> the hobby to be preparation for an alternate career path.  If 
> personal robotics ever takes off enough and can support more people 
> in the field, then I would be happy to make a career move.  At that 
> point I would be happy to pay for the professional tools needed.  In 
> the meantime I'm always a student, even if I'm only sporadically 
> taking courses at community college to refresh atrophied skills like 
> linear algebra (for vision processing).
> 
> So I guess I'm saying that I don't see much of a neccessary 
> difference between intense hobby and more formal student activities 
> (regarding learning intent - I'm not talking about business 
> models).  Not everyone into hobbies is retired.  I'm a member of the 
> Dallas Personal Robotics Group, and only a couple of the guys in 
> that group are retired.  The rest are like me - eager to learn, 
> possibly in preparation for a career move, or otherwise hoping to 
> hit on a commercial angle.  If I got lucky and built something with 
> commercial potential I'd be happy to opt into a full commercial 
> license for the tools I'm using.